1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to a system and method device for minimally invasive surgical procedures. More specifically, it relates to a network of various in vivo medical devices.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
As minimally invasive surgical (MIS) procedures become increasing sophisticated, new functions will be needed to realize successful surgical outcomes. For example, conventional laparoscopy places a limit on the number of devices that can be inserted in the body. In addition, these devices have limited positioning capabilities and may compete or interfere with the preferred motion or position of another instrument.
Devices and methods for performing in vivo imaging of passages or cavities within a body are known in the art, and there are self-propelled devices known in the art. However, these conventional technologies use a single device (e.g. a camera pill), which are difficult to inject into the body and properly position and navigate due to their size. Having a single device also limits the ability of the surgeon to perform multiple tasks in a single session, or view the progress of the surgical procedure from the most advantageous angle.
Generally, wireless communication for biomedical applications is a research topic that has seen a tremendous increase in attention in recent years (C. Castro, A. Alqassis, S. Smith, T. Ketterl, Y. Sun, S. Ross, A. Rosemurgy, P. Savage, and R. Gitlin, “A Wireless Robot for Networked Laparoscopy,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, pp. 930-936, April 2013; A. Alqassis, T. Ketterl, C. Castro, R. Gitlin, S. Ross, Y. Sun, and A. Rosemurgy, “MARVEL IN VIVO WIRELESS VIDEO SYSTEM,” Technology & Innovation, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 329-340, March 2012; G. E. Arrobo and R. D. Gitlin, “New approaches to reliable wireless body area networks,” in IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Communications, Antennas and Electronics Systems (COMCAS 2011), Tel Aviv, Israel, 2011, pp. 2-6; M. Chen, S. Gonzalez, A. Vasilakos, H Cao, and V. C. M. Leung, “Body Area Networks: A Survey,” Mobile Networks and Applications, vol. 16, pp. 171-193, August 2010; M. A. Hanson, H. C. Powell, A. T. Barth, K. Ringgenberg, B. H. Calhoun, J. H Aylor, and J. Lach, “Body Area Sensor Networks: Challenges and Opportunities,” Computer DOI—10.1109/MC.2009.5, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 58-65, 2009; Huasong Cao, V. Leung, C. Chow, and H Chan, “Enabling technologies for wireless body area networks: A survey and outlook,” Communications Magazine, IEEE, vol. 47, no. 12, pp. 84-93, 2009).
Implanted sensors and actuators for medical applications have the potential of being critical components in advanced health care delivery by reducing the invasiveness of a number of medical procedures. Such applications include, but are not limited to, internal health monitoring and drug administration (E. Piel, A. Gonzalez-Sanchez, H. Gross, and A. J. C. van Gemund, “Spectrum-Based Health Monitoring for Self-Adaptive Systems,” in Self Adaptive and Self-Organizing Systems (SASO), 2011 Fifth IEEE International Conference on, 2011, pp. 99-108; E. Y. Chow, B. Beier, Y. Ouyang, W. J. Chappell, and P. P. Irazoqui, “High frequency transcutaneous transmission using stents configured as a dipole radiator for cardiovascular implantable devices,” in IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, 2009, pp. 1317-1320).
Current medical sensors use dedicated systems (dedicated system for each device) for wireless communications, data processing, and backend databases. These systems rely on low data rate communications and best-effort processing of aggregate data. However, one must consider specific absorption rate (SAR) levels and bit-error-rate (BER) when utilizing this technique.
SAR levels of radio frequency (RF) radiation produced by cellular phone activity near the human head have already been extensively investigated (M. H. Mat, M. F. B. A. Malek, A. Omar, M. S. Zulkefli, and S. H. Ronald, “Analysis of the correlation between antenna gain and SAR Levels inside the human head model at 900 MHz,” in Asia-Pacific Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (APEMC), 2012, pp. 513-516; M. Ahmed, “Investigating Radiation Hazard and Safety Aspects of Handheld Mobile,” in Third international Conference on Mobile Ubiquitous Computing, Systems, Services and Technologies, 2009, pp. 1-9; C. Lazarescu, I. Nica, and V. David, “SAR in human head due to mobile phone exposure,” in E-Health and Bioengineering Conference (EHB), 2011, 2011, pp. 1-4). SAR effects near other parts of the human body, such as in body area networks (BAN) applications (IEEE P802.15 Working Group for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs), “Channel Model for Body Area Network (BAN).”) have also seen increased attention (T. Koike-Akino, “SAR Analysis in Dispersive Tissues for In vivo UWB Body Area Networks,” in Global Telecommunications Conference, 2009. GLOBECOM 2009. IEEE, 2009, pp. 1-6).
However, research in SAR levels produced by in vivo devices has so far been very limited (S. Aoyama, D. Anzai, and J. Wang, “SAR evaluation based on required BER performance for 400 MHz implant BANs,” in Asia-Pacific Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, 2012, pp. 365-368). Although, in Aoyama et al., the authors provided results for specific absorption rate SAR and BER evaluation for implant BAN's operating at the 400 MHz ISM band. Due to an increasing need to provide high data rate in in vivo communications, however, it is essential to evaluate the SAR under BER requirements at higher frequencies. Such results will give the system designer guidance about whether a relay network will be needed to attain reliable communications through the extremely lossy and dispersive in vivo channel (T. P. Ketterl, G. E. Arrobo, A Sahin, T. J. Tillman, H Arslan, and R. D. Gitlin, “In vivo wireless communication channels,” in IEEE 13th Annual Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference, 2012, pp. 1-3).
Accordingly, what is needed is unified system or method for controlling a networked plurality of in vivo medical devices in the body of a subject, while reducing clutter and improving the quality and reliability of communications. However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the field of this invention how the shortcomings of the prior art could be overcome.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
The present invention may address one or more of the problems and deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. However, it is contemplated that the invention may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claimed invention should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed herein.
In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.